“Now Israel Can Be Isolated, Boycotted,
Prosecuted”

This is how some Jewish commentators responded to the December
23rdUN vote that Israeli
settlements in Palestinian areas are illegal. The US did not use its veto
so the resolution succeeded. It opens the way for the International Criminal
Court to move on from preliminary examination of the settlements to a full
investigation of whether settlement building is a ‘war crime.’ The resolution
requires the UN Secretary-General to report every three months on the
settlement situation, so the issue is not going to fade away.

It also means that European nations could delay export of
weapons to Israel even when Israel is facing war.

Then there is the global Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions
(BDS) campaign against Israel based on the settlement issue.

However, an Israeli survey a few weeks after the decision
showed that 62% of Jewish Israelis still supported building in the Palestinian
areas.

This means that Israel is becoming more isolated in its
confrontation with the rest of the world.

The Paris Peace
Conference on 15 January 2017 urged the Israelis and Palestinians to stop
violence and settlement activity and to restart negotiations on the two-state
solution.

The Trump factor

WEAKENING OF COMMITMENT TO THE TWO-STATE SOLUTION

Donald Trump has, of
course, expressed a very positive attitude towards Israel. The most important
effect is that Trump has undermined the long-standing US policy of supporting
the two-state solution. Just before meeting with the Israeli prime minister at
the White House, Trump said: “I’m looking at two-state and at one-state and I
like the one that both parties like. I can live with either one. I thought for a
while the two-state looked like it may be the easier of the two but honestly if
[Mr Netanyahu] and if the Palestinians, if Israel and the Palestinians are
happy, I’m happy with the one they like the best.”

Naftali Bennet, a right wing Israeli government minister
said: “Trump’s victory offers Israel a tremendous opportunity to announce that
it changes its mind regarding establishing a state of Palestine in the heart of
our country. The era of the Palestinian state is over.”

SOFTENING OF OPPOSITION TO WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS

Trump has also softened the US policy over West Bank
settlements. On February 2nd the White House stated: “The American
desire for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians has remained
unchanged for 50 years. While we don’t believe the existence of settlements is
an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of
existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in
achieving that goal.”

CONTROVERSIALLY MOVING THE US EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM

President Trump has also said he intends to move the US
embassy from Tel Aviv, where it has been since 1966, to Jerusalem, which is a
very controversial move because it implies that Jerusalem is the capital of
Israel only. The official US view is that since 1948 Jerusalem has not been
under the sovereignty of any nation, although previous presidents have spoken
of moving the embassy there.

Sheikh Ekrema Sabri, imam of the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem
said that moving the embassy would be as good as a “declaration of war.” Palestinian
leaders also threatened to withdraw their recognition of the State of Israel
which they made in the 1993 Oslo accords, if the embassy moves.

Israel retrospectively legalises illegal West Bank settlements

In December 2016 the Knesset (Israeli parliament) legalised 55
settler outposts and some 4000 settler homes illegally built on Palestinian
land in the West Bank. The bill was approved by 60 to 52 votes. Then in late January
they announced 2500 new Israeli houses were being built in the West Bank and
the following week announced another 3000. This was in defiance of the UN
resolution which said that such action was a “flagrant violation” of international
law. This is the first time Israel has applied its own civil law to Palestinian
land. The PLO has said the decision is as good as a declaration of war. Israeli
opponents of the decision are likely to go to court against it and the Israel
Attorney General has said he believes it breaks both Israeli and international
law. It could even finish up at the International Criminal Court.

Relevant Palestinian landowners will be offered compensation
or alternative land, but their land is being taken away from them without their
consent.

One state or two?

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said recently that Israel
should annex the West Bank and give full citizenship tothe Palestinians. However a January
survey found that 68% of Israelis favour the two-state solution (66% of Jewish
Israelis). 58% favoured returning to the 1967 borders (with some land swaps),
Jerusalem being regarded as the shared capital of both Israel and the Palestinians
and compensation being paid to Palestinian refugees (55% of Jewish Israelis
favoured this).

In December John Kerry said that Netanyahu’s coalition
government was the most extreme ever and dominated by the settlers. He pointed
out that the number of settlers in the West Bank had grown by 270,000 since
1993. He added that many of the settler outposts were built on Palestinian land
and strategically planned to make two states impossible. If the land is split
up into small areas it can never become a real state. In Area C, 66% of the
West Bank only one permit for Palestinian building was approved in 2014-5
whereas approval has been given for hundreds of Israeli settlement units.

Kerry believes that
the one-state solution would be a disaster for Israel. Israel can either be a
democracy, in which case eventually the majority of the population will be
Palestinian. Or it can be an apartheid state, which is unacceptable in the 21st
century.

Before he discontinued as UN General Secretary, Ban Ki-moon
commented on the idea of a one-state solution: “This is madness. Replacing a
two-state solution with a one-state construct would spell doom: denying
Palestinians their freedom and rightful future, and pushing Israel further from
its vision of a Jewish democracy towards greater global isolation.”

Peace process

The Peace Process has been on hold since 2014 and Netanyahu
and Abbas have not met since 2010. In September 2016 Netanyahu said he was
willing to meet with Abbas if there were no preconditions. Abbas’ senior political
adviser said that Abbas had been willing to do this in Moscow but the Israelis
didn’t co-operate. In January Abbas repeated his offer that he was willing to
meet Netanyahu any time if settlement activity was put on hold.

In October a survey showed that almost two thirds of
Israelis believe that a Peace Settlement will never be achieved. In January Avigdor
Lieberman, Israeli Defence Minister said the only hope was a regional settlement
involving moderate Arab countries who united with Israel to fight terrorism.
This could achieve an Israeli-Palestinian settlement involving exchange of land
and populations.

It has been reported that the US offered Israel a secret
peace agreement in 2016 with a regional recognition of Israel and a renewal of
peace talks. But Netanyahu rejected it. Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog commented
“History will definitely judge the magnitude of the opportunity as well as the
magnitude of the missed opportunity.”

Iran

In September, Iran displayed its 16 ballistic missiles and a
new missile with multiple warheads. On the side of the truck carrying the
latter was written: “If the leaders of the Zionist regime make one false move,
the Islamic republic will destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa.”

Donald Trump’s threats to react against the hard-won
agreement between the US and Iran to prevent the latter developing nuclear
weapons could worsen the situation between Iran and Israel. Netanyahu intended
to urge Trump to scuttle the agreement.

Other threats against Israel

Hezbollah terrorist cells in the West Bank and Israel have
been dealt with by the Israelis. Hamas infiltrated the Christian organisation
World Vision and re-directed tens of millions of dollars to purchase weapons
for Hamas. The new leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip is Yahya Sinwar, who was
released after 22 years in an Israeli jail in 2011. He is a hardliner who
rejects any reconciliation with Israel. There are signs of heightened tensions
between Israel and Gaza.

What are we to make of all this?

The largest pro-Israel group in the US is not Jewish but
Christian Zionist. There are 6 million Jewish people in the US but 80 million
evangelicals, many of whom are Christian Zionist. Many of them also voted for
Donald Trump. His readiness to accept a one-state solution is supported by many
(but not all) of these Christian Zionists, who do not want a Palestinian State.
From a biblical point of view the issues include the following:

1.God requires Israel to act with justice towards the
Palestinians. Many Christian Zionists are very clear on what the Bible says
about God not having finished with the Jewish people, and about him bringing them
back to their land (and I agree with them). But they seem to forget that the
same God in the same Bible requires justice to be shown to the non-Jew. God
will judge Israel if they do not act justly. This should deeply concern every
Christian Zionist.

2.It is true that God gave the land to the Jewish people
as a promised land. However we should note that the “Promised Land” included
much of what is now Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Also Israel has had the whole of
the Promised Land for only some 40 years during the last 4000 years, i.e. 1% of
the time. So it has not seemed too important in God’s purposes for Israel
over the last few thousand years for it to possess the whole of the Promised
Land. (See my article http://www.prayerforpeace.org.uk/isitrighttodividethepromisedland.html).
Giving some of the land to the Palestinians does not therefore seem to be ruled
out.

3.Christian Zionists differ over whether the one state or
two state solution is the best. I personally have difficulties seeing the one
state solution as viable. Like John Kerry I think it would lead either to the
state not remaining mainly Jewish (which I don’t believe is God’s purpose) or
it would be an apartheid state (which would be unjust).

4.Israel is isolating itself and facing increasing
antagonism from around the world. I am well aware of what the NT says about
such antagonism growing in the End Times but that is no reason simply to accept
it and not to take steps to counteract it. We need to pray against it, which
involves praying for a just government in Israel. We should not just sit back
and say: “Ah, this is the fulfilment of prophecy.”

The above four points are important prayer topics for
Israel.

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